A while back, the gaming enthusiast press was ablaze with genuine enthusiasm for Hawken and MechWarrior Online. Both these games are in Open Beta by now, and playable by the broad public, yet I feel woefully uneducated on them both. Where somehow the gaming press has failed to follow-up their enthusiasm for these games with proper coverage - failed to educate their audience on the merits and failures of them - you guys will have to step in.

Educate me about these games please. From a short one-sentence write-up to linking quality content on the topic, anything that'll help getting me up-to-speed would be greatly appreciated. All I can do for you guys is to say these games exist, and are widely available for everyone to play for free - and that I think we should all give them a go.

http://www.playhawken.com/

http://mwomercs.com/

Now just to make time for free games...

Hawken:

• Yo, mechs.

MWO:

• Yo, mechs.

For real though, both of these games have fallen off my radar too. Speculating, I'd say the lack of media coverage is because they're still in open beta. While it's true that a literal* fuckton of stuff gets changed/added it doesn't seem like in-progress betas are a thing traditionally given lengthy coverage.

--

*not literal

IMO

Hawken is majority flash, little substance. It looks amazing, moves well, feels pleasing but ultimately forgettable. The "mech" part is only an augmentation of standard FPS .

(note: i got bored of this game real fast so a little biased, never got into the real meat)

MWO is the opposite, looks like crap, mechs look stupid (again IMO) the environments are bland and the pew pew lasers pack no puch, HOWEVERRR, i love it because its deeep. The game plays like a weird, modified tank sim. Slower pace, major focus on teamwork and tactics. The feeling of ownership you have over your mech seems much greater (eg..putting the squishy ammo in the foot cuz noone aims for the leg). It has a higher barrier to entry but is ultimately a more satisfying / unique experience.

soooooo hawken is shit MWO is the shit. both are infected with F2P genes and you'll probably get bored with either. Doesn't hurt to try, (yes it does, your time is wwwwaluable)

@seppli: As masterpaperlink said, Hawken is pretty, feels nice but has no depth. It's Call of Duty with mechs and about as interesting.

MechWarrior Online is deeeep. There's a huge element of strategy and the feeling of the mechs is a much more traditional slow, hulking movement that you would expect with a hundred ton bipedal tank. I've coincidentally been getting back into it recently and it still interests me.

@masterpaperlink: Do you still play much MechWarrior? I've been interested in getting a GiantBomb squad of 4 (or even 8) together but have yet to find anyone who still plays!

@masterpaperlink said:

I wouldn't call that biased. I'd call that judging a game based on your experience of it. I had very much the same experience. I was wowed when they released the first trailer for it and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. But then I played it for about maybe 2 hours and was not really impressed with it. It's a good looking game, but at the end of the day it's just kind of a shallow multiplayer deathmatch/domination game.

I'd argue that Call of Duty multiplayer is more fun than Hawken.

@minipato:

Not really anymore, i play sporadically, possibly because i play solo when its so team oriented. If you manage to construct a squad ill happily drop by. Communication makes the game much easier

@minipato:

Yeah your right, ignorant is a better word. I worry about "missing the point" of a game though (like the majority of people who play fighting games or jeff and dark souls HA)

@chavtheworld: @masterpaperlink: @ravenlight:

Thanks for the feedback guys. Guess the next time I feel like buying a new game, I'll rather spend some time checking out Mechwarrior Online. The mech customization sounds really interesting. I'll definitely put my ammo into my foot man!

@masterpaperlink: I think you meant to reply to me :P And I'll let you know if anything happens.

Hawken is pretty much just a kinda bad version of Quake/UT multiplayer where the player skins happen to be mechs.